The Climate Imperative e-Dialogue Series

According to the latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014), the last three decades have experienced a clear increase in the Earth’s surface temperature, and it is likely that 1983 to 2012 was the warmest 30-year period in the Northern Hemisphere within the last 1,400 years.

In direct response to this evidence, a collaboration of over 60 scientists scientists from every province and across disciplines came together in the Sustainable Canada Dialogues, led by Dr. Catherine Potvin from McGill University. The scholars within this collaboration brought their knowledge and research to collectively identify a sustainable climate pathway for Canada. The consensus action agenda, Acting on Climate Change: Solutions from Canadian Scholars, launched in March 2015, identifies ten policy orientations and actions that could be immediately adopted to kick-start Canada’s necessary transition toward a low carbon economy.

The Climate Imperative e-Dialogues series follow the launch of the action agenda and brought together Sustainable Canada scholars to delve deeper into the solutions for moving toward a low carbon economy. Details of the dialogues and copies of the conversations can be accessed below.

List of Conversations

The Art of PossibleOn May 19th, 10:00am to 12:00pm PST (1:00pm to 3:00pm) EST, Sustainable Dialogues Canada scholars gathered to take a closer look at the recommendations made through Acting on Climate Change: Solutions from Canadian Scholars. The conversation explored policy priorities, and how these priorities might differ across the country.

The Provincial ContextOn May 26th, 10:00am to 12:00pm PST (1:00pm to 3:00pm EST), scholars and experts gathered to discuss the provincial context. This conversation explored who is leading the way in climate action (and in what ways), and examined leadership innovations around attempts to reduce climate impacts in Canada.

Canadian VoicesOn June 9th, 10:00am to 12:00pm PST (1:00pm to 3:00pm EST), scholars gathered to discuss what they learned from Canadians from 14 visioning workshops across the country. Do we have a consensus on the way forward, what are the points of convergence and divergence?

Canadians VoteOctober 30th, 10:00am-12:00pm PST (1:00pm-3:00pm EST), scholars gathered to discuss how wide and how deep do we need to go to successfully mitigate and adapt to climate change. This conversation was informed by scenarios developed to characterize three different forms of change – incremental, transitional, and transformative. Along with these scenarios, a survey was built to allow Canadians to vote on the type of change they would like to see in this country.